Convicted
by KaitouKudou
Summary: A decision he never thought would come to be rose to reality. Though he had been asked such question before and answered with nobility, will his conscious prevail when it actually happens? ONE SHOT! plz R&R!


**Convicted**

"No, it can't be," a young boy stumbled back with his mouth open in a choke, unable to close it. He turned with pensive eyes, still shocked by his revelation. His mind searched feverishly for alternatives, though only to come back to the one answer, the one truth.

Kudou Shinichi had seen many crimes and murders throughout his short life, perhaps a lot more than a teenager his age should have. With his vast al-round knowledge and his keen ability in matching clues through a complex twist of imagination and logics, mingled together for formulating his ingenious deductive reasoning, society has given him the title, "Sherlock Holmes of the 20th century"(Not to mention his skills in the game of soccer could rival that of a professional.) He had become increasingly efficient in his work and had built a reputation in solving crimes on the day of the occurrence no matter how tricky, how slick, how complicated the case may be. "Gifted," is the word many chose to use to describe the boy. He was a figure where "Girls wanted to be with him and guys wanted to be him."

But on this day, while he sat on the stairs of the balcony with his fist embedded in his cheek, supporting his tilted head, he cursed his gift. Looking up on to the sky as lights of red and blue flashed against his face, he gave a lamenting sigh, a long heavingly sigh. He must have wished that his sigh could clear all that burdened him, hoping that by some magic that in that puff of air, he could distinguish any fog that may have hid an alternate path that he had missed previously.

His cloth was tattered, grass stains on his knees and dirt smears on his elbows. Perspiration still remained on his forehead but was almost dry since he had been sitting for quite some time now, which can be seen by the calm breath he drew in. The smell of recent rain still hung in the air, stubborn as it was, but it was a clean smell. With his free hand, he stroked his hair as he slugged his head forward and took a deep breath. He didn't mind that smell, it let him think. He knew what he had to do, it did not take a genius (like him) to know, any average citizen with a good consciousness to basic human ethics would have been able to see what must be done. He rose up slowly and looked behind. Through the window of the remote lodge behind him, where he had come originally with the intentions of luxury, with its 4 panes divided by 2 wooden bars, he could see the crowed inside, gathered around the guest room table. It was quiet inside, of course it was quiet inside, he was the guest of honor that they were waiting for.

He stepped down the stairs and began pacing on the dirt path below. His shadow can be seen passing the window from left to right, then back to the left and to the right again. Time ticked away with each slow step. He knew he should not take much longer, he could sense the people inside growing more and more impatient. But he knew once he goes back in, there was no turning back, he would have to do what he must. He did have an different path, a part of him told him to run, to run and don't turn back until he reached a remote, isolated civilization, but being a detective of his class, he couldn't. It wasn't his egocentric personality, or greed to popularity, nor was it an impulse of a want for self-glorification. It could really not be described as a prejudice of pride either since the evidence was solid. It was just something he had to do, not as Kudou Shinichi but as a recognized detective, as the "Sherlock Holmes of the 20th Century".

The door opened without a creek, the only sound as he entered the lodge was that of turning heads. The tubby inspector swallowed hard and awaited his show. Shinichi raised his head and met his eyes with the culprit then lowered them to his feet. His mouth opened with no sound. He stood, in the middle of 9 pairs of eyes, trying to force out the words that simply refused to be released. The silence continued until one impatient man finally ran out of patients. "Well?" said he.

"I…" The young detective stuttered, "I…don't know."

Rounds of muttering arouse and questions were slammed against him but none entered his ears. He stood in his own small world by that door of the lodge, completely isolated in quietness, as he asked himself repeatedly of what has just happened. Swaying slightly from side to side, he made his way to the guest room table where Megure pulled a chair for him to rest upon.

"It's alright," came the inspector's voice as Shinichi turned a blank face to him, "Like the old saying goes, even monkeys fall off trees right?" the tubby man gave an innocent chuckle.

He nodded with no change of expression on his face. What has he just done? He had just gone against everything he ever stood up for, everything he believed in. Yet, he was saving the one thing he had lived for, that one thing that was everything to him.

When everyone had settled down and the police returned to their headquarters, naming the case an unsolved mystery, and all others had gone to bed with deep slumber, he stood outside with his hands in his pocket and a figure behind him that waited patiently for his voice.

"Why did you do it Ran?" he asked softly.

"I…don't know. It just…" The girl replied until a choke stopped her words while she tried hard to keep her tears inside.

"So then I was right. You did kill him," he bit his lips hard to keep his anger from showing through his voice.

"I didn't mean to!" She exclaimed.

"But you DID!" he spun around, pointing his finger to her as he did to countless other criminals, "and you chose to hide that!"

Seeing his stance, the stance she had seen so many times before when she had followed him to his cases, only this time the finger pointed to her, the tears finally streamed down. Her legs buckled beneath her, forcing her to the ground.

"I loved you Ran," Shinichi whispered, lowering his finger.

"Loved…" she mumbled, wiping her tears knowingly.

"Good bye Ran," he turned his back to her.

She wanted to call him but she couldn't. She couldn't find any word she could say that would change the situation. It was still muddy on the ground, she could feel its moisture under her palm.

"I won't turn you in Ran, but this shall be the last you'll see of me face to face," he said with a chilling voice.

As she watched him leave that night, under the stars with the dark rain cloud behind her and the moon in front, she knew that he was really gone and that she could do nothing, or rather, did not believe she had the right to argue about his departure. So, she sat there, on the muddy road, and watched his figure disappear from her life…forever.

So, how did you like it? It's a different sort of idea and not sure how you guys will see it. I hope I don't get flamed for making a protagonist into an antagonist lol. Original one was probably too short for anything so I decided to rewrite it. Most likely this will be a one shot unless there's a huge bundle of people that wants me to extend on this. I hope I'll get at least 1 review now.

Hope you all enjoyed it!

Sacredalliance

AKA: KaitouKudou


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